Cheers as fully-opened Purple Line eases traffic snarls on Bengaluru roads

The first weekday brought jubilation and fewer traffic snarls to a city known as the world’s second-most congested.

Bengalureans rejoiced at the opening of two small metro sections on Monday. The years-long wait seemed to have been worth it. Of the two, the 2.1-km-long Baiyappanahalli-KR Pura section is critical because it connects the tech hub of Whitefield to the rest of the city.

Namma Metro reported a decent uptick in its ridership with trains ferrying 5.86 lakh passengers between 5 am and 8 pm. The numbers will rise further as metro trains run until nearly midnight. For context, the metro’s average daily ridership is 6.5 lakh.